


safe and warm

by princessrorora



Category: Anastasia - Flaherty/Ahrens/McNally
Genre: F/M, so soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-14
Updated: 2018-10-14
Packaged: 2019-08-01 20:01:12
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,004
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16290839
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/princessrorora/pseuds/princessrorora
Summary: prompt: glenya + who gives unprompted massages?





	safe and warm

It’s late. 

Gleb passed a hand over the place beside him, startling awake in an instant to find it empty. He sat up quickly, able to make out in the darkness of the room that Anya was missing, and given the chill of the sheets, had been missing for some time. 

His heart stuttered an anxious beat as a million scenarios passed through his mind. Despite being married and settled for two years now, there was still that nagging fear in the back of his mind that one of these days she would wake up and realize she had made a mistake in marrying him and run back to Paris to her grandmother’s welcoming arms. But Anya, despite himself, loved him anyways. As much as it continued to baffle him, he held fast to that, and comforted himself with the knowledge that she’d never do _that_.

As his eyes adjusted to the darkness of the room, he caught sight of the light from the living room streaming in from the partially closed bedroom door. He knew he could go back to sleep. They’d been married long enough for him to be used to the nights when the nightmares would return, when she would simply need to distract herself with a book or doing some midnight gardening to take her mind of of the ghosts of the past. She’d admonished him more times than he could count for staying awake half the night simply waiting for her to return. 

He just…couldn’t sleep well without her by his side. 

Sighing, Gleb dragged himself out of bed, raking a hand through his mussed hair and stepping out of the room. He walked as quietly as he could down the short hallway until he reached their cozy living room.

Anya was seated at her desk by the window facing the garden, wrapped in a blanket, and bent over the thick almost brick like book that had captivated her attentions over the past few weeks. _Les Miserables_ had been her eldest sister’s favorite book, and Anya had been doing her best to get through it. Oftentimes, she complained about the lengthy chapters and even admitting to finding it all incredibly boring. When he’d gently remind her that no one was forcing her to read the tome, she would get a far away look in her eyes and murmur about her eldest sister. _She loved it so much. It helps me remember her. Always so serious, always so kind, always so…Olga._

Reading it during the day had seemed to be fruitless. Something about the daylight was far too welcoming to her, moreso than an old book written by some French novelist that Gleb hardly cared for. But still, in the nighttime when the nightmares and the memories danced through her sleep, like tonight, he assumed, she’d find solace in the lengthy text. It connected her to her sister, to her entire family, in ways he couldn’t understand.

Nor did he try to. He simply let Anya be and hold her through whatever memories she might have been reliving. Most nights she would seek solace in his arms when the nightmares hit. But lately, it had been the book. And if he was jealous about some sappy, fanatical piece of literature, well…he didn’t mention it.

She didn’t flinch when he came up behind her, his hands instantly coming to rest upon her shoulders. Anya just sighed and leaned into his touch, and his hands began to move methodically and soothingly against the weary muscles that knotted in her shoulders. She was exhausted, he could feel it, but he could not help the little thrill that ran through him at the soft groan that passed from her pink lips.

“How goes it?” He hummed, glancing over her head in an attempt to see how far she’d gotten in comparison to earlier that afternoon. It wasn’t very far at all, and he couldn’t help the soft smirk that played at his lips.

“It goes.” Anya murmured, tilting her head forward as his hands moved closer to her neck. “Mm…I’m sorry, did I wake you?”

“No, darling.” He crooned reassuringly. “Not on purpose, anyway. I just noticed you were gone and woke up.” 

“And you can’t sleep without me.” She said softly, reaching one hand up to clutch at his.

He bent over her seated form, slipping his arms around her shoulders and pressing his cheek to the side of her head. Her hair smelled of roses that wafted in from the garden outside on the cool spring breeze and intermingled with the sweetness that was Anya. He found that he could not help but hum and kiss her braided golden locks.

“No, I’m afraid I can’t.” He agreed, standing up straight and returning his hands to her shoulders. His hands continued in their well practiced massaging ministrations. Almost on a regular basis, he found himself in this position with his hands working away the weight of the world that rested on her petite shoulders. It was a duty he was more than happy to fulfill. “Considering coming back to bed soon?”

“I might consider it, yes.” Anya giggled sleepily, one hand flipping the book closed and the other curling into the blanket that had fallen loosely around her. “Mmm….you’re too good at that, you know?” She hummed, tilting her head back to look up at him.

“Yes, I’m _too good_ at many things that my wife likes, hm?” He said cheekily.

Anya sputtered a laugh, and in the lamplight, her blush seemed to glow as it spread across her cheeks. _“Gleb Vaganov.”_ She admonished, reaching back to pinch at his wrist.

“Yes, what is it?” Releasing her, he scooted her chair out and swept her up into his arms in a fluid, quick motion that left her breathlessly laughing. Her hands clutched at the thin fabric of his shirt, and he gave her side a little pinch as he asked, “Have I told a lie, _Mrs. Vaganov_?”

“Hardly.”


End file.
